[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 97 (Thursday, June 27, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H6979]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               NO GLASS CEILING FOR WOMEN REPRESENTATIVES

  (Mrs. CHENOWETH asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. CHENOWETH. Mr. Speaker, I am often asked by women in my district 
if there is a glass ceiling in this Congress for women who serve here, 
and I tell them no, there is not a glass ceiling as far as I am 
concerned.
  I tell them that I am reminded of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. 
Remember, Fred Astaire was a spectacular dancer, but some people forget 
that Ginger Rogers had to do everything he did, except she had to do it 
in a long dress, high heels, dancing backward, with a smile on her 
face.
  The point of this friendly jibe is that we as women oftentimes have 
to work differently or harder, but we are working toward the same goal 
side-by-side with the gentlemen in this body.
  Some Members would have us believe that women are some sort of a 
third political party, that there are a special set of issues that only 
women care about. One of my colleagues recently claimed that there was 
a war against women in this body. Such a charge is hollow rhetoric. The 
real issue is that the most important concerns women have are really no 
different than all Americans.

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